Day Thirteen - Cambridge to London - 23 May

Today was part travelling, part sightseeing and then catching up with friends. We left Cambridge at nine thirty and we had a good drive down to the Jury’s Inn at Hatton Cross which is very near Heathrow Airport. I drove and Henk directed me with the help of the car’s GPS and we arrived at about eleven o’clock. We decided to drop our bags at the hotel first and then take the hire car back to the company at Terminal 5. The hire company dropped us off at our hotel so we needn’t had come to the hotel first. We were concerned about having to drag our heavy bags onto public transport to get to the hotel. We were keen to get into the heart of London and walked the five minutes to the Hatton Cross Underground station near our hotel getting off at Kingsbridge.

It took nearly an hour on the train which brought home to us how big London is. We emerged from the station onto the very busy Brompton Road and close to Harrods. We spent about twenty minutes in Harrods and it all got a bit too much for us. It was very crowded and we were hungry as it was getting close to two o‘clock. We could only see a few genuine shoppers with the majority being tourists like us.

After having lunch in a little café across the road from Harrods we regained our energy and we ventured back and did some exploring of the massive and very stylish store. At the end of each sale the shop assistant asks do you need directions to any other section. In a section called “Cheap and Cheerful” I found a cardigan I liked for a mere three hundred and ninety-five pounds! There was a statue of Lady Diana and Dodi Al Fayed with the inscription “Innocent Victims”.

The windows of the shop were celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and each major designer had designed a crown. They were all very stunning. There was also a replica of the Queen’s beautiful Coronation gown in the window.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at nearby Hyde Park. There were many people making the most of the very warm, sunny day with quite a few hiring deck chairs and sunbaking. Late in the afternoon we set off on the Underground again to Clapham Common to meet up with our friends, Alexander, Anna and Lachlan.

We arranged to meet at six thirty. Alexander and Anna have been in London for a year and Lachlan was in the city to attend a friend’s wedding. Alexander and Anna decided that rather than go to their very popular local pub, The Windmill, that we should have a picnic on the Common and make the most of warm evening. They were very organised and had the food and drinks ready for us. It was a good move and very relaxing. There were many people around the very large Common doing the same thing. Lachlan had to leave earlier to catch a couple of trains to where he was staying north of London. It was lovely to catch up and exchange news. We left Alexander and Anna at about nine and we arrived back at our hotel at about ten fifteen.